Welcome to Five O'Clock Somewhere, where it doesn't matter what time zone you're in; it's five o'clock somewhere. We'll look at rural life, especially as it happens in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, cats, sailing (particularly Etchells racing yachts), and bits of grammar and Victorian poetry.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Buddy

Yeah, I can already hear the warnings …They say, once you name something, it’s yours …Well, there’s this cat. He first showed up the weekend of the Fourth of July. He came, apparently, seeking company and possibly food. He showed up on the front deck of the house, announcing his presence with a very high-pitched, kitten-type mew.Initially, Dulce and Tres weren’t so sure about him; there was some grumbling and hissing. But after a few days, they seemed to decide he wasn’t so bad after all. They even seemed to take a liking to him, socializing from the windowsills or through the screen door when he came around.He’s a dark-gray tabby cat – the black on his back is almost solid. He seems to be fairly young; his meow is really more of a kitten’s mew. He seems to have been reasonably well fed; he’s not skinny, and his coat is in reasonably good condition. That leads me to wonder whether he may have come to Laguna Vista for the holiday weekend and then become separated from his humans. Or maybe he’s just really skilled at hunting to feed himself.He’s also extremely flighty. He’ll come to the window to demand food, but when I bring it out, he’ll dash away. He doesn’t dash away as quickly or as far as he used to, but he still won’t let me get anywhere close to him.I will say that since he’s been around, we’ve had a major reduction in rodent activity; the field mice and packrats have definitely not been as problematic as usual.For want of anything better to call this cat, I’ve taken to calling him “Buddy.” I couldn’t just keep calling him “Hey You.” I’ve been asking around whether anybody’s missing a cat, but so far, I haven’t had any hits.Lately, Buddy has definitely expressed a wish to come into the house. And Dulce and Tres don’t seem to object; they seem to regard him as a friend. Of course, Buddy has a couple of rites of passage before he gets to come in, such as getting a vet checkup, and vaccinations, and a flea treatment if necessary (fortunately, at this altitude, with this dry and cool climate, fleas aren’t a big problem). Oh, and one other thing … yeah, if he’s going to be part of this household, he gets neutered. It’s the best thing for his health in the long run, and the last thing I need is a tomcat making his marks all over the place.I have heard tales of cats adopting humans; now, it looks like Buddy is working to adopt us.